It's hard to write a review for a book like Shadow of the Giant, because it's really just the last chapter of a much larger story. I give 5 stars on this review not only because Giant was a great book by itself, but it also ends the series with the greatness it deserves.

Here is the order you should read the Ender books by Orson Scott Card:

1) Ender's Game
2) Ender's Shadow (The same story as Ender's Game, but from Bean's pov.)
3) Shadow of the Hegemon
4) Shadow Puppets
5) Shadow of the Giant

You might speak to others who would add the direct sequals to Ender's Game: Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, and Children of the Mind. While the Shadow books follow Bean and the other Battle School Children back to Earth, the other books follow Ender on his journey through space. I left these books from my list intentionally. I started Speaker for the Dead and found it horribly boring, so I returned it to Amazon. The reviews I've read of the other books don't inspire me to pick them up at all. I read the books in this order, and I feel extremely satisfied with the result.

Shadow of the Giant has put a perfect little bow around the events that happened on Earth after Ender and friends saved us all from the Buggers. Over the course of the Shadow series, I completely enjoyed bonding with so many great characters. At the beginning they are small children in Battle School, and by the end they are young adults who have done great things with thier lives. The only thing I love more than a great story are great characters, and Shadow series gave me both.

I also enjoyed the political and military strategy discussed and analyzed throughout the series. I know, that sounds so boring--but the great thing is that it's not! There are long stretches where the characters talk to themselves, going over the different pieces that together make up the situation, and as the reader we follow their path of logic to its always satisfying conclusion. The politics of future Earth imagined in the series is one where actual current events might possibly lead to, and the fact that I could imagine it all happening just as described was part of the fun.

Now that I've finished, I might go back and try again with Speaker of the Dead. There are people that love it, so maybe I put it down too soon. OSC has also, just this year, published another sequal to the Shadow series, Shadow's in Flight. I won't even mention the premise of that book--just by saying what it is about would spoil some elements of the existing books. But I will say that I have strong hesitations about reading it. I feel satisfied with the way the series has alread ended, and the reviews of Shadow's in Flight have not been kind. I've got a lot of book on my reading list, so I'll probably wait. Maybe one day I'll get the itch to revisit this great story and what else Orson Scott Card can dream up--while the story ended well, there could still be much, much more story to tell. To me, that's a testament to the depth of the characters in the stories.

Goodbye Ender. Goodbye Bean. Goodbye Petra. Goodbye Peter. Thanks for such a meaningful experience.

If you can't tell, I give Shadow of the Giant and the entire Ender Saga as I've outlined it above my full recomendation.

A mixed bag. Continued political action like the previous book, but with a bit more touchy-feely stuff. I didn't feel that the combination worked very well. There were a lot of threads that felt unresolved. Perhaps those will be tied up in the next book.

Some very odd narration anomalies - a couple times there were cross-fades, one of which switched narrators. Why? It felt like poor production to me.

This was an okay book. It is the fourth book in the 'companion' stories that take place after both Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow [in the line of books about Bean's life as well as other members of Ender's 'Jeesh']. I ended up stopping in the middle of it to read a different book before coming back to finish this book. It is funny, but I was so looking forward to the book being over that when it finally ended I was sad it was over 'so soon' and there was not a little bit more to the story. Crazy, huh?

It has been a gap of several years since I read the preceding two books and this one, so perhaps that is a good chunk of the reason I was feeling disjointed with this novel. I did not remember all of the characters in this book [but I do know they have been introduced elsewhere in the various novels]. It had a decent flow to it, I guess. It had sections that just seemed to drag and other sections that moved fairly quick. Not a horribly choppy flow, but it was not all smooth sailing, either. Again, I think this goes back to the amount of time between reading this novel and the previous novels [I had read the three previous novels in a row, so the flow with those books was a bit better]. I would definitely not consider this to be a completely 'stand-alone' novel as one does need to know the backstory of the other novels for it to make more sense.

Also, this novel, while disguised as being about Bean and Petra and the two of them trying to make a life together, is actually the finishing touch of Peter Wiggin's story and how he becomes Hegemon of the entire Earth and puts into place a one-world government [sans the United States, for the longest time]. Bean and Petra's story is a side show, a distraction, to the main event. It took me a bit of time to realize that, so Card did a better job hiding the novel's focus than I realized. So kudos to the author for a great job of hiding the real story inside the story being told!

The gist of the novel is this: Bean and Petra are trying to find their eight [or nine] stolen children [stolen as embryos] before Bean either dies or leaves the planet [probably forever]. Virlomi is trying to free India from Moslem rule as well as to keep China out of India. Caliph Alai is trying to make Islam a peaceful religion as the various Islamic nations have come together under his rule to form one massive 'national' block. Han Tzu is declared Emperor of China, replacing the inept leaders who destroyed China in fruitless wars against their neighbors. Vlad is suborned by the Russians into making plans to invade China. Peter is attempting to convince all nations of the world to unilaterally disarm so that a one-world government can be created and universal peace can be obtained. Graff and Rackham are trying to convince the various Battle School graduates it would be better for all involved if they left the Earth behind and became leaders of their own colonies [in an attempt to create a human diaspora that will enable humanity to survive any destruction of the Home Planet].

The troubles: Virlomi begins to believe her own press and sees herself as an infallible goddess; she rebuffs Han Tzu's overtures at marriage, attempts to seduce Peter Wiggin, and finally links herself to Caliph Alai as his wife, wedding together the futures of India and Islam.  I did find Virlomi's attempted seduction of Peter to be pretty funny, especially her reaction to his rejecting her advances. I also found Alai's reaction[s] to her humorous as well. Poor guy never stood a chance against her seductive charms! She had some great insight in how, while Battle School might have taught all of the boys how to stand against the Buggers, Battle School never taught the boys how to handle a woman.  Han Tzu wants the Moslems out of China but is unable to do so for the nonce. Caliph Alai comes to realize that he can only remain in power as long as he continues conquering other nations in the name of Islam; as long as he preaches a non-expansionist policy his life is in danger. Bean realizes he must  divorce Petra and  leave with any babies who share his condition  so that Petra can have a 'normal life' with a 'normal human male' and never have to be worried about having more children who will quickly mature and die at the young age of eighteen . Caliph Alai's leadership soon comes to despise Alai, shocking him when he realizes they will follow the plans of his despised wife over his leadership/decrees/desires  after an attempted assassination attempt . Peter is trying to make the Office of the Hegemon a tangible force until institutions can be put in place in the 'free countries' that will then allow him to remove the office of Hegemon because those institutions will be able to function without him being in power. The Battle School graduates soon come to realize the validity of Graff's and Rackham's plans for them [to leave the Earth and lead their own colonies] and eventually leave the planet.

The Russians use a plan devised by Vlad to invade China, working in conjunction with India and the Islamic Nations. Vlad helps Peter Wiggin and the FPE defeat the Russian invasion, which allows members of the Rwandan and Thailandan militaries to devastate Virlomi's pathetic 'citizen' invasion of China. The Moslem armies fall part due to the inability of Moslem nations to look any farther than their own national good and national identity. Russia is easily conquered as they leave their 'back door' open for Petra and her forces to gain control of major cities with minimal bloodshed. It was like the author intended for the ending to be this massive epic and it turned into a banal exit.  

I was surprised at the end of the book. As mentioned in Ender's Game, Ender does eventually listen to Peter's story and then writes about Peter's life in a book about the Hegemon. The two brothers come to a form of peace. This was one of the better parts of the book, as it discusses the relativistic differences between the two brothers. It has only been a short time since Ender left the Earth behind with Valentine in order to maintain peace on Earth. For Peter, it has been years, and it shows in how the two brothers tentatively communicate with each other at first.  I was also surprised that Petra married Peter and bore five more children for him; I did not see that one coming.

It was an okay book, overall. It is interesting in how it discusses the geopolitical situations of the world in which Card writes, as well as the various religious, cultural, historical, and regional differences. I also found it interesting that the United States was essentially the last nation to join the FPE [if it joined at all] - funny how the US is always seen as refusing to join any organization that will require its citizens to give up their national rights in lieu of a worldwide organization. I think Card's ideas on how this would take place are too simplistic, as it is not in man's natural nature to willingly give up things considered valuable. I do not know how to put it into words, exactly, but I felt his 'solution[s]' were too simplistic for such a complex situation.

Also, as a Christian, it is amusing to read about an author trying to describe the benefits of a one-world government when the Bible describes the exact opposite situation in terms of a one-world government created by humanity. Perhaps my life-long beliefs make me too cynical to accept his attempts at creating a one-world government, but it was still an interesting attempt on his part. Granted, one-world governments do seem to be a common theme in sci-fi stories, but his attempts seemed somewhat contrived. It is just that his efforts seemed to contrived and fell short in terms of justifying nations willingly giving up their strengths, their goals, their national identity, and accepting a global government.

Overall, it was an okay book.

"You either die as a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain".
В този случай е "Или приключваш като добра поредица, или досипваш за да се вбозиш".
Фантастичният елемент е сведен до почти несъществуващ минимум, и сякаш действието прави е на Repeat.
Ако Кард бе направи тези романи с различни и непознати герой можеше и да се получи, ама тази рязка промяна в характерите на една дузина герой ми се струва доста противоречива.
Не говори добре за един роман, когато най-хубавата (а може би и единствената) част е краят. Глътка свеж въздух ще ми се стори следващата книга, защото се разкава за Ендър (най-накрая).

Shadow of the Giant is my favorite of the Ender's Shadow series. Unlike some of the earlier books in the series, I never got to a section that made me want to stop reading Card's books. I do think the summary of the book is misleading because Bean's story is secondary (and mostly boring) to what is the more interesting story-line - Peter's quest to unite Earth under one government. It was written in a way that was believable and interesting. Negatively, I think Card has a habit of writing one dimensional characters. Mostly I'm only finishing the books of Ender's series because I'm already so far invested. If you get this far along, you should be able to enjoy this book.

What a step down.

The basic story is good, when it focuses on the central characters. When it branches off to the others, it falls apart. The ridiculous attacks on Islam combined with the weird stereotypes of Russians, Indians, Asians...pretty much everyone. It's less racist than Conan I guess.

Disappointing end, but I guess better than no end

Reading this book out of order was one of the best mistakes I've ever made.

Thinking that it followed directly after Shadow of the Hegemon, I read this one next and skipped Shadow Puppets entirely. I can honestly say that doubled my enjoyment of this episode in the saga. There was a sense of time passing, of events intervening, and I had to think just a little bit to piece it together. And it wasn't until I reached the end that I realized who the book was really about. (Funny what titles do to your focus as you read, isn't it?)

Shadow of the Giant is the story I was hoping for when I started Shadow of the Hegemon, and I'm glad I got to it without having to wade through another book of setup. I may go back and read Shadow Puppets eventually, but for now I don't feel the need.

El desarrollo se vuelve pesado y demasiado moralista, pero se beneficia de un buen comienzo y un buen final. Para los fans del universo de Ender, vale la pena leerlo.

NO. Enders shadow was so good, but I could barely force myself to finish this (& I read everything)! 1. OSC didn't need to say at the end that he couldn't keep track of ages because it's obvious: his adult-sounding genius kids turn into competent adults overnight. Besides an obviously stuck-on sentence or two, adolescence didn't really occur. 2. Multiple times he sets up the situation where a man's best plans are waylaid by sex &/or feminine wiles. 3. Bean is supposedly the smartest person ever, yet there are only a couple sentences stuck in to establish "Bean felt like the fertilized embryos were no different than his infant brothers who were euthanized at age 2!" (Totally ignoring the fact that if you take that to its logical conclusion means that the Delphinki parent are awful awful bc they left their fertilized embryos-- their BABIES according to bean & Petra-- in limbo in a lab & didn't check on them for years.)
The morality is wholly inconsistent with the rest of the character development. Where the Ender series devolved into a slog through philosophical screeds, the Bean saga is all OSC playing war games while ruining the characters he's built with his own unaddressed assumptions (sex makes men dumb! Embryos = babies!) that aren't explained and don't really make sense, certainly since they're not addressed.

Tl dr don't waste your time! Read ender's shadow and STOP THERE

I think that, once again, Orson Scott Card has delivered an incredible book to continue the story that started with an undersized street urchin. Bean is trying to help Ender's brother Peter unite the world under one government. The problem is that his rapidly growing body doesn't have much time before his heart is no longer to bear the strain of gravity on Earth; and there is still much work that needs to be done before this happens.

I chose to read this book because I couldn't get enough of Bean. He has always been my favorite character, so I naturally loved his series. I wasted no time after reading Shadow Puppets to snag this up in read it quickly. This is my favorite series, so I was thrilled getting the chance to read every book in it.

I liked this book so much because it is quick paced. Bean only has a certain amount of time, and things need to get done. It is also great to read about Peter's work trying to unite the world. Growing up I've always heard of people having ambition to rule the world, so it w as very interesting to read about someone who was actually trying to do something that has always just been a joke.

The only disappointing thing is that Bean's giantism is catching up to him. He is my favorite character in any book, so it is hard to see him facing a death that isn't terribly heroic.

My overall impression of the book is that is another great book in Bean's series. Orson Scott Card has done a very good job with this series, which means that all of the books have been solid; including this one.

I think everyone who has read Ender's Game or Shadow, or is interested in this story should read it. I suggest this series to all who ask about it, because I thought it was amazing. This is a series that I will continue to read, and I think everyone else should at least give it a try.

The only potentially offensive material in the book is that it is centered around a world at war. OSC doesn't go into great detail about the killing in the fights, but it is there. If that doesn't bother you then you should be fine.

Shadow of the Giant may seem a bit lackluster for the most part, but it's definitely a novel that improves when considered in retrospect. This is because, until you get to the ending, you won't be able to fully appreciate the full extent of Card's intricate plotting and richly textured thematic development. The power of the last few chapters really sneaks up on you, and I particularly enjoyed the book's bittersweet denouement.

Not a bad installment. Listened at 2x speed and glad I did. Not sure I would have made it otherwise.